Codes and Conventions of Horror.

This type of genre strives to educe fear and apprehension from their viewers by colliding supernatural into reality situations. Everything a normal society values is systematically destroyed throughout the film. It often can be completely paranormal without any reality whatsoever and are based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre. They can also incorporate elements of other genres such as science fiction (sci-fi), fantasy, black comedies or thriller. Modernized horrors usually contain graphic violence or bloody gore. Horror films differentiate due to the years and so it is much harder to compare or group them largely and so contrasts between them become very clear.


  o Preliminary introduction into ordinary lifestyleo Type of bizarre murder/death – killer maybe known or unknowno Credits follow horror theme – creepy font, title movement, image eg pumpkin, weapon, etc
o Main characters introduced – young/ youthful
o Teenage kids – easy target also vulnerable – home alone
o Teenagers usually a couple – football jock boyfriend and cheerleader blonde bimbo girlfriend.
o Mysterious phone calls – dubbed sinister voice “Who’s There…?”
o Family ties broken
o Sisters killed by brothers e.g: Halloweeno Sometimes unsuccessful acts of heroism
o Victim unprotected
o Superhuman killer – doesn’t die successfully = sequels
-Source; http://smay-fuller-suttonmediaas.blogspot.com/2008/12/codes-and-conventions-of-horror-film.html

Foley art

Liam, Scott and Connor set about recording some sound effects for our media piece “Relentless Possibility”; we researched into Foley art, a technique used by film industries to add sound effects. We found a video onlineshowing sound technicians for a popular video game, recording sound effects and then demonstrating how they use them.

This video gave us a lot of inspiration for our video’s audio. We arranged a date where we would go round to Scotts house to record our vegetable genocide; Liam and Connor went to town to collect equipment and fruit and veg, we considered health and safety by buying some overalls, glasses and some other protective clothing. They did this while me and Ryan continued with editing and Research. They also bought some Tarpaulin, Duck Tape, Bamboo, Tights, Hair Gel, CDs, a Hammer and lots of Fruit and Veg. 

Connor and Liam constructed a Pop Shield out of some tights stretched over and embroidery ring, this was to help reduce any hiss sounds the microphone may pick up, it also protects it from any foreign projectiles (banana juice/goo) once made these we duck taped them on to some bamboo and tapped that to the tripod, positioning it in front of the microphone. They then started on destroying some fruit, setting up a stand made out of cardboard and wooden beams, using our array of tools to dismembered the fruit; recording the result with Scotts audio equipment and Liam’s D90 for visual. Once Liam and Connor returned we listened to the results, find some things worked really well and others were a dismal.

Scott and Connor went over the recordings at a latter date to compose them to fit our film segments; we did this using Cubase sound recording and editing software we layered the sounds up on top of each other to create a stabbing sound. Once we created the ideal sound we exported it and Scott uploaded it to soundcloud for us to download and use when we needed it.

It was then a simple case of downloading it and adding it to our media film, this combined with the editing has helped tointensify the genera of our film. 

Filming went pretty smoothly, with no problems really arising allowing us to flow through it quickly. It was done over the course of about 3-4 Weeks taking place at around 7/8-10+ O'Clock. The issue we have noticed though is that we haven't included an estalbishing shot. However, this will only take a quick session to get completed so it's no real problem. We plan to get this done ASAP, maybe even later on today (25/03/11).



Filming Location (In day light)

 In our rough cut which we have put together, we've noticed an issue with one of the shots. Unfortunatly, in one of the shots of Heather (Dead character), you can see her take a breath. It's only minor and not too noticeable, however it is an annoyance. We don't have time to correct this now so we've got to stick with it.

Over the course of our filming, we encounted that things were different to how we had planned they would go. Whilst it still went fine, it was challenging. We experimented with many different shots and, in the end, changed quite a few of the shots on our storyboard.

We had to improvise for some of the shots, at some point Liam had to lay down and shoot without the tripod to get the right angle which the tripod wouldn't allow. Quite a few shots were challenging, for example, the panning was more difficult than we thought, when I had to pan both right and down, trying to keep the pace of the character whilst also framing another thing of interest in the shot.

Also, the cameras metering system could not be controlled manual whilst filming, so we experienced some lighting problems. In one of the shots, where the car is started, when the headlights come on the camera auto-adjusts to meter for the bright point of light, which darkened everything else in the shot. Thankfully, however, it wasn't really a problem because we felt that the effect was pretty cool and suited the dark, sinister feel of the film. Another issue with the camera, was that in some shots there appears to be large black bars scrolling down across the shot. We think was due to metering issues aswell, and unfortutantly, we can't fix it now.

We did try to pre-plan the lighting, where Liam, Connor and Scott made a visit to olympus house (Where we filmed) to check out the lighting and to find out, based on the lighting, how we would shoot. The large flood light above the main entrance to the building provided excelent lighting which was very helpful. However, it did turn off sometimes and since we had no control of this we had to pause/cancel filming sometimes.



Running through the storyboard with the DV



We filming using my own Nikon D90 camera but one of the shots we using an iPod. The advantage of using my camera over the DV Cameras provided by the school was that we could film in higher quality and resolution. Also, the ability to change lenses helped. For most of it, we used a 50mm Prime F/1.8 lenses; this allowed us to take good advantage of focus and depth of field. However, the D90, is a photographic camera mainly, with just the side option to record, so unfortuatnly the settings were limited in video mode. Liam filmed on the standard video mode with the ISO set to 400-600.

Since none of us hold a lisence yet to drive, in the shot where we had to car speeding off we had to use a 'stunt double'. We filmed Connor (Protanganist) climbing into the car, then switched the shot to a different angle where we switched him with his Dad (The 'stunt double'). This allowed us to film the shot of the car speeding off.

The filmimg has now all been completed, and was very succesfull. Connor and Liam have been making sound effects using fuit and vegtables, These will be added into our opening to create better sound effects.
Me and ryan have been working on the effects for the titles which are going to be quite basic, so it doesnt take attention away from the opening.
We have now began revising for the exams.

Our filming did not take place on the date we had intended to start, this is due to actors not being able to make it, All our filming took place over arround 4 weeks and was filmed at night between the hours of 6-10pm. Becaue of health and safety we had to had a adult avaliable to drive the car, this was Connors dad, who was present at all filming.
I beleive the filming has gone well overall, the lighting is good and the continuity is mostly corect. Final touches are now being added to the film, e.g. slight continuity errors. The sound is good, but we are aware that some slight changes are needed to be done for example, on the ipod scene the sound of the ipod hitting the floor is slighty to loud. I think that our film has some very good points. e.g. some of the close up shots like of the boot, and the girl crying. These are here to create more emotion and to make the audince feel more involved.
Here is the rough cut of our film, shown below: